The present invention relates to door weather strips operatively coupled to peripheral edges of automobile doors for sealing gaps between doors and bodies by making elastic contact with the bodies of the automobiles.
As shown in FIG. 7 to FIG. 9, door weather strips 3,4 have been operatively coupled to peripheral edges of doors 1, 2 (front door 1, rear door 2) of an automobile for sealing a gap between the doors 1, 2 and an automobile body opening edge of a body 10.
As shown in FIG. 8, the door weather strips 3, 4 are formed by connecting die molded parts 71, 72, 73, 74 to extrusion molded parts 61, 62, 63, 64. The extrusion molded parts 62, 64 are operatively coupled to upper parts (roof sides) of the peripheral edges of the doors 1, 2. The die molded parts 71, 72, 73, 74 are operatively coupled to upper corner parts which are continuous with the extrusion molded parts 62, 64.
As shown in FIG. 9, the die molded parts of the door weather strip 3 include: an installation base member 11 operatively coupled to the peripheral edge of the door 1; a hollow seal member 12 which is integrally molded with the installation base member 11 and which makes elastic contact with a door opening edge of the body 10 when the door 1 is in a closed position; and an outer lip 13 integrally molded with the installation base member 11. A rear lip 14 protrudes from a position between the installation base member 11 and the outer lip 13, and a top end of the rear lip 14 makes elastic contact with the peripheral edge of the door 1. The installation base member 11 has a hole 15 or a slit formed thereon for pulling out a core (not shown) after die molding.
On a corner part of the door 1 (also the rear door 2), a track of movement 80 of the door 1 is substantially perpendicular to a surface of the body 10 when the door 1 is in the closed position. With this configuration, a top end 13a of the outer lip 13 makes elastic contact with the surface of the body 10 in a direction substantially perpendicular. Accordingly, when force of the top end 13a for making elastic contact with the body 10 increases, the top end 13a of the outer lip 13 may fall down toward an inner-cabin side, so called “reverse” in another word. More specifically, the configuration that the track of movement 80 of the door 1 intersects the surface of the body 10 at a large angle of not less than 45 degrees causes malfunction. An angle of not less than 70 degrees causes more malfunction. Especially, when the track of movement 80 of the door 1 intersects the surface of the body 10 at an angle of not less than 80 degrees, the outer lip 13 may fall down toward the inner-cabin side.
Even in case the top end 13a of the outer lip 13 does not reverse, under the configuration shown in FIG. 9, an outer-cabin side wall 12a, which has a linear shape, of the hollow seal member 12 may fall down toward the inner-cabin side due to reaction force from the outer lip 13. In FIG. 9, a position 13P on an inner-cabin side of the outer lip 13 is closer to an inside of the automobile than an inner-cabin side surface 12aF of the outer-cabin side wall 12a of the hollow seal member 12. Under the configuration shown in FIG. 9, the reaction force is generated when the outer lip 13 makes elastic contact with the body 10. In other words, when an end of the outer-cabin side wall 12a, which is on a side of a base root 13b of the outer lip 13, of the hollow seal member 12 falls down toward the inner-cabin side with respect to an end on a side of the installation base member 11, a position on the body 10 touched by the outer lip 13 for sealing is moved toward the inner-cabin side. This configuration allows appearance of an unnecessary large space among the outer lip 13, a peripheral edge of a door panel and a peripheral edge of the body opening edge. The unnecessary large space has caused problems such as entrance of water and wind, and occurrence of noise. In addition, when the door weather strip 3 includes the rear lip 14, the rear lip 14 strays from the peripheral edge of the door panel, and water enters the inner-cabin side through a gap between the rear lip 14 and the peripheral edge of the door panel.
In this connection, as shown in FIG. 9, forming an inner-cabin side sealing rib 16 between the outer lip 13 and the hollow seal member 12 has been known for increasing rigidity of the outer lip 13 (see, for example, Japanese unexamined Patent Publication No. 2010-52623). Additionally, an outer-cabin side sealing rib 17 may be formed between the outer lip 13 and the rear lip 14.
But, forming the ribs 16, 17 between the outer lip 13 and the hollow seal member 12 or between the outer lip 13 and the rear lip 14 necessitates extra materials for die molding. In addition, the outer lip 13 is hard to deal with. Specifically, the outer lip 13, the rigidity of which is excessively increased, causes problems that: door closability is degraded; sealing performance for preventing entrance of water is degraded, for water or dust easily collects on a sealing surface which abuts with the body 10. Also, the ribs 16, 17, which are exposed outside, degrade appearance.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide the sealing structures of door weather strips capable of improving the sealing performance and the appearance by simply transforming cross-sectional shapes.